HIV Shocker: Thousands Shun ARVs

Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday October 23, 2017 18:00

 

He said this recently during the northern region private sector partnership forum, which was held at Cresta Marang Hotel.

Business Botswana Coalition on Aids, Business Botswana, Ministry of Health and Wellness and the International Labour Organisation hosted the forum.

Solomon said that currently they have close to 50,000 people who are supposed to be taking ARV treatment, but only about 29,000 are taking the life-saving medication. Solomon attributed the high numbers of people who are defaulting to fear and stigma attached to people who take ARV medication.

He said that through the Kick Out Campaign, they reached over 6,000 people in the district, adding that their findings show that 600 people in district have never tested for HIV in their entire lives.

 He said that the above statistics shows that people are still treating HIV as a death sentence and are even scared of knowing their status. He said that outreach programmes on HIV should be conducted in order to educate Batswana about the Treat-All Strategy and other initiatives. He also expressed concern about the youth who do not use condoms consistently which put them at high risk of being infected with sexually transmitted infections. For his part, former Francistown City Council (FCC) mayor and Business Botswana, president Iqbal Ebrahim said that there is an urgent need for people to change their attitude towards HIV.

He said that nowadays people are even scared of talking about HIV. “HIV is not a death sentence therefore there is a need to give people confidence to seek help when they are diagnosed with HIV,” he said. Ebrahim implored community leaders, government and the private sector to support initiatives aimed at reducing or ending the HIV epidemic. A representative from the National Aids Coordinating Agency (NACA) Robert Selato said according to NACA’s latest report, about 360,000 people are living with HIV in Botswana while approximately 10,000 are infected with HIV every year.

He said that about 3,900 people died from AIDS related illness annually in Botswana. Selato said that 290,288 adults above the age of 15 are living with HIV and are accessing antiretroviral therapy with 83% of these people receiving HIV treatment. indicated that 7,441 children below the age of 14 living with HIV are accessing antiretroviral therapy while 11,295 pregnant women are living with HIV with 95% of them on HIV treatment.